Capture Higher Ed Celebrates a Fourth Year of Rapid Growth

Louisville, KY,
September 21, 2015 (Newswire.com) -
Capture Higher Ed, a Louisville-based technology startup in student recruitment, announced today its FY 2015 year-end results, showing another period of accelerated growth. Capture doubled the number of its employees, launched a new product, and added a data science team, while serving nearly 50 partner institutions. The four-year-old company doubled revenue again this year, led by the expansion of its partner list to include several large public universities.

Capture has gained increasing market share, as higher ed recruitment has become more competitive and universities struggle with freshman enrollment. According to a 2014 survey conducted by Gallup, only 39% of Admissions Directors said their institutions met their new student enrollment goal. Declining high school graduation rates have contributed to this problem. National data shows the number of high school graduates peaked in 2011-2012, and in 2014 the number of graduating high school seniors was its lowest in more than 20 years.

Amidst this environment, many institutions have moved recruitment activities from in-house to specialized vendors, like Capture Higher Ed. This shift has proven successful. According to a national study of the 2013-2014 recruitment cycle, institutions that used outside vendors achieved a student response rate more than 55% higher than those that kept recruitment services in-house.

“Student recruitment has become increasingly more complex, and the old search strategy of buying more names no longer satisfies enrollment goals. Capture uses a data-driven approach to find mission-fit students for our clients,” said CEO Steve Huey. “We engage students most likely to enroll at a specific university, which reduces the market acquisition costs for our partners.”

This focus on mission-fit students has helped Capture increase the efficiency of its partners’ recruitment goals. Capture’s “Inquiry to Application” rate (the percentage of students in the recruitment pool who complete an application) is 47% compared to the national average of 30% for non-profit institutions and 15% for public institutions. The reported national average cost of recruitment is wide-ranging, from $2,400 to over $4,000 per student at a private liberal arts institution. Capture’s ROI for such institutions can average $1,575 per student.

Since it’s founding, Capture has focused on data-driven technologies, and in April 2015 the company developed a new product, Capture Behavioral Engagement (CBE). Using dynamic content, CBE enables universities to see how visitors are interacting with their websites to better gauge students’ interests and to direct individualized marketing efforts.

“Now you don’t have to rely on outdated tests or surveys to market to a prospective student. What they say they’re interested in is likely to change in a year or even months later,” said Matt Cobb, Vice-President of Product. “CBE lets us see what students are interested in now, and we can engage with them based on their actual interests on a 1-to-1 basis. Overall, using behavioral data is a lot more successful at recruiting students.”

Cobb, hired in early 2015, is a seasoned expert with over 30 years of product innovation, including stops at Apple and EarthLink. CBE is in beta with 22 of Capture’s partners, and the company plans an aggressive product launch this fall.

Capture marked 2015 with another significant achievement – hiring Dr. Thom Golden to lead a new data-driven research team, Capture Labs. Golden was previously the Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions for Vanderbilt University. Golden and his 6-person data science team are using behavioral data from CBE to build forecasting and prescriptive modeling techniques to enhance the success of student enrollment for Capture Higher Ed partners.

Capture was also recognized with several awards this year, specifically for its rapid growth and its workplace environment. Most notably, Capture debuted at #750 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.

FY ’14 – ’15 Highlights:

• Ranked #750 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S.

• Named a “Fast 50” company (one of the 50 fastest growing companies in the Greater Louisville area) by Business First

• Selected as a 2015 “Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune

• Received a “Best Place to Work” award from Louisville Business First

• CEO Steve Huey honored as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year

• Developed a new marketing automation product, CBE, built specifically for higher ed.

About Capture Higher Ed: Capture Higher Ed is the world’s best at using data and technology to help universities attract, engage, and recruit mission-fit students. Capture leverages demographic, socio-economic, and behavioral data to deliver valuable insights for more effective and progressive student recruitment. Using an algorithmic approach, Capture maximizes meaningful engagement with prospective students at the most influential times in their decision-making journey, providing a better ROI to its partner institutions. Capture’s proprietary technology is built specifically for enrollment professionals, with real-time analytics and data visualization tools to easily monitor progress and measure the success of enrollment goals at any time. Headquartered in Louisville, KY, Capture Higher Ed has served nearly 75 higher education institutions across the country, and has been recognized by Fortune as one of the greatest places to work and by Inc. 5000 as a fastest-growing U.S. company. For more information visit http://www.capturehighered.com.

About Capture Higher Ed

Capture Higher Ed is the world's best at using data and technology to help universities attract, engage, and recruit mission-fit students. Capture maximizes engagement at the most influential times, delivering a better ROI to its partners.